Recently, I wrote a post over at the fracas blog, about a hoax that had not just the internet’s panties in a loop, but the mainstream media’s as well.
A false story about a tragic accident claiming the life of young Miley Cyrus, was first posted at Wikipedia, and then at Digg, causing briefly, a flurry of false news reports, RIP notices and memorial videos over at youtube.
I wrote about it to help quell the story and before I knew it, I was swimming in traffic. As a result, I met a fellow who happens to run a Miley Cyrus fan site. At it, I found some quotes that I feel are fitting to share.
You see, while I was feeling outraged that some idiot would, for their own benefit and their own brief thrill at getting on the Digg front page, or by their own admission, having “fooled the internet” with their story, I’d forgotten that Miley is a celebrity, and Miley is used to this kind of thing.
Which, for someone just turning 16 is kind of sad.
Quoting Miley from my new aquaintance’s site (who shall forevermore be known as ‘J’):
(Regarding the false stories printed about her) There have been all kinds of crazy, false stories. I’ve had pregnancy rumors, I’ve been getting married, I’ve been moving away from my parents… My mom was like, ‘When are you going to tell me about this?’.
So there I am, thinking like a mom and feeling sorry for her and her family for having to deal with this and I realized that they probably are less upset about it than a regular mom like me.
Miley also said, quoted over at J’s site:
“Some people don’t have a family to fall back on, like I have, and that’s when something greater than even that comes in and that’s faith and that’s what I have for me. That’s what keeps me strong.”
I’m really glad to read that, because no sooner had I posted about the hoax, there were responses from readers. Responses suggesting they were upset that the hoax wasn’t a hoax and that she wasn’t dead.
I found those comments (echoed in the responses at the Digg site) to be rather disturbing. Again, I’d thought about how I would feel if it was my daughter people were speaking that way about. Finding the quotes over at J’s site, along with uplifting stories for the Miley fan, a quiz, cute sparkly graphics a girly fan ould love and 175 photos (with nary a naughty one to be found), it made me conscious of the fact that for every idiot out there who dreams up a hoax to harm… there are countless other fans out there who will make the title of this post a truth for Miley and her family.
Or for another young celebrity and their family.
And you know what?
That’s a good thing.
For some reason, Miley Cyrus is someone most of us (like I or ‘J’) want to cheer on and build up.
So yes Miley, it is cool to know people support you!
May the reminder of the fans who were heartbroken when they thought the hoax was true always be enough to leave the hoaxters and their cronies behind in the dust, and may I always happen to run into someone with a site like J’s just when I’ve read one too many ignorant responses!
[Miley Image Source: Everything Miley Cyrus]
